Weekly Poll: OmniFocus, Things, or Something Else?

If you’ve ever wanted a more advanced to-do list app for your Mac, you’re bound to have tried OmniFocus or Things – or both. They’re the two most popular – or at least most talked about – task management apps on the Mac, with a somewhat similar feature set and seemingly equally fanatical fans.

Both apps sync online, are designed to work with the GTD method, let you schedule tasks and organize things, though in their own manner. They’re really both great apps, though Things shines a bit more right now in the design and ease-of-use department, and OmniFocus is definitely the more geeky and “hackable” of the two.

So, which is your favorite of the two? Or have you foregone both Things and OmniFocus, and spent your GTD dollars on other apps?

For the record, I’m an OmniFocus guy, and can’t wait to get started using OmniFocus 2 ;)

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I don’t need all the features Things and Omnifocus have to offer. I prefer 2Do, a good app with the basic features you need.

deadtokyo

I use 2do too, it’s great.

Debbie Chamberlain

By far 2Do is the best..I don’t think I could function without it. LOVE this app!

Gledson

Me too!

zgw801

Me too! 2Do is great.

Amanda

2do all the way! has everything i need + more~

Chiller

Add me to the list of happy 2Do users. I’ve abandoned all other GTD apps for it and never looked back.

http://sekta.pl Maciek

Wunderlist is great.

Tomas

I am also on the Wunderlist wagon. It’s exceptional.

Jürgen

I use Checkmarker for Dashboard, don’t need THAT much features anyway.

http://robertoalanis.com Beto

I use The Hit List, deep task nesting, makes a task per line when you copy text (amazing for design/dev changes); and the best of all: it has a time tracker for task. I have been using it more for tracjing changes than a general GTD (I also have Wunderlist) but I’ trying to use The Hit Listbat full.

Other GTD apps are too expensive, and too-inaccessible from my Windows-infected workplace.

Kevin

That’s it!
All these woooonderful tools like Things and Omnifocus are useless when you are working on both Mac and PC. Thats why Wunderlist is the best choice, another great alternative is Todoist.

Ramon

I’ve been using all kinds of GTD apps.

Wunderlist, Things, Flow, Productiv or what ever it was called and more.
However, I’m now making use of Priorities which has cloud sync. nesting options and it works great. This in combination with Week Cal and NotifyMe keeps me on track!

I actually never really tried Omnifocus besides installing and than quickly un-installing. Find it to be ugly and rather overcomplicated.

Marcel

I have been using Reminders as GTD for two weeks now and it is working pretty well. I have folders (lists), due date, priority, “today tasks” and it is everywhere: web, iOS, Mac. The only thing I miss is an option to organizer some list by priority.

Razvan

Call me old-fashioned, but I can’t live without MacOS’s Notes app :D

Alex

Another vote for wunderlist. All the features I need, available n all platforms, pretty and free!

Woody

Workflowy!!

I tried almost all available todo apps out there. And wasn’t satisfied at all. Things is overhyped and has very limited features, Omnifocus is just ugly. Sorry, I really tried to like it but I just didn’t use it.
I tried business solutions, too, but still wasn’t satisfied. Then I found workflowy and it can be described with just one word: wow….

- simple
- looks nice
- has markdown
- very good to have an overview
- free

The only downside:
You have to be online to see it or have an iPhone or iPad. There is no Mac app atm, but it is in work.
I don’t consider that as a downside so much because I am online all the time, except when I go on holiday vacation and then I really don’t need and don’t want to have a todo list with me. :)

Michael

I’m using Todoist (http://todoist.com). Great web app and applications for most platforms and browsers

Bara

Firetask!

Stephen Orsini

anyone else using Asana? http://asana.com/ – it’s been performing fairly well for me, tho the iOS app is a tad lacking.

Mark E. Wallace

I use Remember The Milk via its web interface (actually, turned into a .app with Fluid) and have RTM apps on my iPhone and Android phone. (Yes, two phones).

RTM is exactly GTD, but it supports locations, tags, recurring tasks, due dates, and other things that are valuable for me.

I looked at nearly all of the others. I am interested in Omnifocus, but I need to be able to manage all of my work from both phones, and I don’t believe OF has Android support yet.

The thing that I most want is mobile versions of Taskwarrior. I vastly prefer a true CLI like TW, but there isn’t an easy way right now (that I’m aware of at least) for getting and using TW data on both an iPhone and an Android phone.

http://www.if.pro.br Igor Freiberger

I usually need to handle structured tasks and sub-tasks, but do not need a bunch of additional controls. Tree is the app for me. Although it is an outliner and not a to-do manager, it works perfectly for task listing purposes. And the trees/lists it buils are also very nice.

Dr.jh

Tried them all but chose TaskPaper as my primary GTD app. So far I’m very satisfied!

Blair

I may be one of the few that very much misses Wunderkit – it did everything for free: sharing, collaboration/teams, notes, lists, reminders, dates, etc! To find another free app to filled the gap, I found the free personal workspace of Producteev, because team workspaces are very costly. Todolist seems like a great app, but I could never get used to it and defaulted back to Producteev. Besides Wunderkit, all other collaboration and team productive apps seem to be very expensive. Wunderlist 2 is still great and is my other go-to list app, but doesn’t quite fill the collaboration features Wunderkit had, and Producteev (and other apps) have.

Scott

Paper & Pencil Pro. That’s a Rite-In-The-Rain notebook and a mechanical pencil. This method is waterproof, mobile, and very durable. I can store text and drawings. For task management I use the Todoodlist method; projects I handle with the Enterprise version: a wall covered by stickynotes that I can drag and drop. My backup is a daily photo in case my office burns down. Simple to learn; intuitive interface; fully customizable.

I’ve tried most task and project management apps out there, including Things and OmniFocus. Hated them all.

http://www.poder.dk Jens Poder

Been around the todo-app block a couple of times.

Right now it’s back to .txt files synced via dropbox. Mostly I handle these files through the amazing duo: Taskpaper and nvAlt.

This ended as my solution because I found the other systems too fiddly. Getting OmniFocus to output the exact list you’re looking for is just so tedious.

sam

i us the awesome ‘the hit list’ :D

Luna

Tried many, loved a couple. I ended up with OmniFocus.

It’s the only GTD App that lets me do all I want and need to do with it.
Agreed it has more than I need, but I don’t have to use the features I don’t need.
And agreed it takes some time and study to get up and running with it but OF is created to do that while already using it. But once you get the hang of it it’s as easy to use as the other Apps.

It seems like looks and complexity will be vastly improved upon with OF2.
I’m in the private beta and can hardly wait to try OF2.

emspace

I’ve tried lots of them, but I’m not really on the GTD bandwagon, so I use these for projects.

I have the same problem with all of them: I set them up and I keep track of stuff for a while, but then the whole process of keeping all the checklists updated exhausts me and I stop. They’re always very helpful at the start of a project, when I have to scope the entire thing out. But once I’m deep inside, I stop worrying about all that.

I’m convinced only certain types of people are cut out to use these apps.

I agree with you on ToDo. It’s one place where the skeuomorphism (it looks like a traditional paper day planner) works for me. It’s fast and easy to use, too.

Chris Talbott

Evernote, with the right setup, is the most useful, extendable, customizable solution. Google “the secret weapon” and Evernote for an outline of how to set it up.
The ability to include and/or link any file, to include notes directly in to-dos, and to access it on any platform, make this approach the best for me.

JB

I use doit.im.

For such a great piece of software, I’m amazed it doesn’t get a lot of coverage.

Dennis Carmody

I currently use Things but I’m outgrowing it. Omnifocus has always seemed a bit much for me, but with an ever-increasing complexity to my work (thank you government budget cuts) I need something more powerful. Omnifocus 2 looks to be exactly what I’m looking for. It’s a shame I can’t use it on my desktop at work…(windows + tightly controlled computer)

http://seanhasablog.com Sean

I tried multiple apps, but settled with something we all use and check: email.

I simply set up an action in Agile Tortoise’s Drafts that sends whatever I enter to my email with one tap. With this, I know I’ll see my “tasks” every time I open my email client.

Steven Herod

I use omnifocus albeit not religiously. My major issue with it is the pricing. At $50 on average per platform (mac/iPad/iPhone) it’s a significant investment and I just know v2 for mac will be just pricey.

http://mac.appstorm.net/author/pwizla/ Pierre Wizla

TaskPaper ! ;)

http://palobo.tumblr.com Pedro Lobo

WooHoo!! A fellow TaskPaper guy.

Rocking TaskPaper/Folding Text (soon). Have it on the Mac, iPad miss it on the Droid though.

Super flexible and customizable. Can have about any type of workflow. GTD for some things, simple feature/bug list for other projects… Somple Awesome.

I use “Things” in combination with “The Hit List.”
I like Things a lot but probably wouldn’t buy it anymore because its much to expensive for the feature-set. However, since I brought it when there were not that much alternatives, I still use it just because I “have” it.

To collaborate, I use wunderlist. Simple, but effective.

Since I now have to buy Things for the iPad (although I already have it on my iPhone -.-) I’m considering switching to 2Do.

Rohan

Have been stable on omnifocus for a while now. Previous choice was things but after a while I started hitting the limited walls of Things.
The ability to run a private server in omnifocus is a hand thing for me. The power is unparalleled.
Guys don’t try omnifocus till your current tool starts to make you tear your hair apart. Also I recommend just installing Omnifocus for the sake of learning like you are learning other tools. This will make sure the friction is out of the way if/when you feel the need for a more powerful tool.